Such in brief are the reasons for the existence of this volume. It remains to express my warmest acknowledgment of Mr Austin Dobson's unfailing counsel and assistance. My thanks are also due to Mr Ernest Fielding for permission to reproduce the miniature which appears as the frontispiece; to Mr Aubrey Court, of the House of Lords; to Mr E. S. W. Hart, for his help throughout the necessary researches among the Middlesex Records; to Mrs Deane of Gillingham; and to Mr Frederick Shum of Bath. And I am indebted to Mr Sidney Colvin, Keeper of the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum, in regard to almost every one of the thirty-two rare prints and cartoons now reproduced.
G. M. GODDEN.
October 26, 1909.
CONTENTS
[CHAPTER I]
YOUTH
[CHAPTER II]
PLAY-HOUSE BARD
[CHAPTER III]
MARRIAGE
[CHAPTER IV]
POLITICAL PLAYS
[CHAPTER V]
HOMESPUN DRAMA
[CHAPTER VI]
BAR STUDENT--JOURNALIST